News

Construction Industry Forecasts Consultation

Sunday 25 Sep 2016

CITB NI are inviting leading local construction companies and stakeholders to consult on their Construction Skills Network forecasts. These forecasts look at construction output, economic indicators, employment and annual recruitment requirements.

We need the industry’s input to help us validate the data we are producing so we will be asking questions to see if what we feel is happening in the industry matches the industry’s perspective.

Benefits for industry participants include early visibility of forecasts, the opportunity to influence and inform the data, access to regional reports, and the use of data for business planning. You will have an opportunity to hear from other experts in the industry and you will receive a copy of the published data.

What is the Construction Skills Network?

The Construction Skills Network (CSN) was set up in 2005 and acts as a vehicle for ConstructionSkills[1] to collect and produce information on the future employment and training needs of the industry.

The CSN functions at both a national and regional level. It comprises a National Group, 12 regional groups (called Observatories), a forecasting model for each of the regions and countries, and a Technical Reference Group. An Observatory group currently operates in each of the nine English regions and also in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Observatory groups consist of key regional stakeholders invited from industry, Government, education and other SSCs and Sector Bodies, all of whom contribute their local industry knowledge and views on training, skills, recruitment, qualifications and policy. In Northern Ireland the group is consulted with by e-mail once a year and through a meeting once a year.

At the heart of the CSN are several models that generate forecasts of employment requirements within the industry for a range of occupational groups. The models are designed and managed by Experian under the independent guidance and validation of the Technical Reference Group, which is comprised of statisticians and modelling experts.

The forecasts receive national and regional media coverage and provide vital information to both industry and stakeholders. The forecasts have been historically accurate for Northern Ireland to within 2% for employment and 3.3% for output.

How Much Time Commitment is Required and How Do I Get Involved?

We understand that everyone is busy, so getting involved does not take up too much time. All we ask is for you to participate in a half day meeting (usually in May or June) to discuss how well the forecasts match the reality, and a few hours in November to review a presentation and provide some feedback on the data within it. We really do value your feedback on how the industry is performing which is crucial for our future forecasts and would encourage you to get involved.

[1] ConstructionSkills is the Sector Skills Council for Construction – one of its roles is to produce robust labour market intelligence that provides a foundation on which to plan for future skills needs and to target investment.